UNLV knocks off Louisville

Louisville's Peyton Siva, bottom, and UNLV's Derrick Jasper go after a loose ball during the second half of an NCAA men's college basketball game Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) (The Associated Press)

Las Vegas » UNLV nearly let a big lead fritter away against Louisville.

Oscar Bellfield scored 17 points, Tre'Von Willis added 16 and the Runnin' Rebels held on for a 76-71 win over the No. 16 Cardinals on Saturday, a game the Mountain West upstarts led by 19 points in the second half.

The Cardinals (4-1) used a 30-11 run to overcome the 53-34 deficit with 14:05 remaining, tying the score at 64-64 on Rakeem Buckles' basket with 4:24 left. Bellfield answered with six straight points, and the Runnin' Rebels (5-0) managed to hang on in a game they never trailed.

"Oscar was great," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "He kept battling."

Buckles scored eight of his 10 points during Louisville's tying run. He also finished with 11 rebounds, while Edgar Sosa had 18 points and Samardo Samuels 13.

"That was a game that showed a lot about our team," Kruger said. "You see a lot of pressure from [Rick] Pitino teams. ... Our team has been very unselfish. Our depth is huge -- it has already paid us dividends."

The Cardinals were coming off a four-game sweep in the Hall of Fame showcase, including a 96-66 rout of Arkansas. But they were unimpressive in a 69-56 win over East Tennessee State and a 90-81 victory over Morgan State, and were stung again by the Runnin' Rebels.

UNLV went into Freedom Hall and won 56-55 last season. Before that, Louisville had won four straight in the series

"It's not a bad loss," Pitino said. "It' snot surprising when you play a road game like this, this early in the season. It's a difficult place to play. We knew it would be a tough game, but we knew it would make us a better team in the end."

Darris Santee added 13 points and a key block in the final minute for UNLV, which led 40-30 at halftime. Derrick Jasper added 12 points and Chace Stanback finished with nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

The Cardinals tied the score at 20-20 on Sosa's lay-up with 9:30 left, but the Rebels shot 56 percent from the field (15 of 27) over the first 20 minutes and led 38-27 following Willis' free throw with 2:24 remaining.

Bellfield scored nine points and Willis had eight during the first half.

No. 4 Villanova 81, LaSalle 63 » Antonio Pena and Scottie Reynolds scored 14 points each, and No. 4 Villanova unnerved city rival LaSalle with its defense at Villanova, Pa.

Corey Fisher added 13 points and six steals and Dominic Cheek had 10 points for the Wildcats (6-0), who have won eight straight over the Explorers and 20 of the last 21 against Big 5 teams, including Temple, Saint Joseph's and Penn.

Villanova also won its 30th straight at The Pavilion, its 6,500-seat on-campus arena. The streak began with a 102-87 victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 17, 2007.

Kimmani Barrett scored 17 points, Jerrell Williams added 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, and Aaric Murray had 15 points and 14 rebounds for LaSalle (3-2), which hasn't beaten Villanova since Nov. 27, 2001.

No. 23 Notre Dame 64, Saint Louis 52 » Luke Harangody scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, and No. 23 Notre Dame bounced back from a poor outing to beat Saint Louis for third place in the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

The Irish (6-1), 14-point losers to Northwestern on Friday night, also got 14 points from Ben Hansbrough, who'd managed only four on 1-for-10 shooting a night earlier.

Harangody is now two points shy of becoming the seventh 2,000-point scorer in Irish history.